Mother in fight to stop her daughter being adopted
A MOTHER who has been told her daughter will be adopted because she does not have the mental capacity to look after her claims the child has been "stolen".
Rachel, of Strelley, whose full name cannot be revealed for legal reasons, has been fighting for the last three years to bring her daughter home.
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The European Court of Human Rights
As previously reported in the Evening Post, the child, who also cannot be named, was taken away from her mother when she was born 13 weeks prematurely and with severe breathing problems. Officials felt Rachel could not cope with her medical needs.
A psychiatrist said she was not capable of instructing her own solicitor and an official solicitor – a lawyer acting for those unable to represent themselves – was appointed but offered no evidence at a custody hearing.
The 24-year-old has vowed to take her case to the European Court of Human Rights, backed by Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming, after a second report found she was mentally able to instruct a solicitor.
"They have stolen my daughter," said Rachel yesterday.
"It makes me angry, I've wanted her to live with me ever since she was born."
Rachel, who visits her daughter once a fortnight, has been told the child will still be adopted in three months' time.
She will then be barred from seeing her.
She added: "I feel it's in her best interests to live with me.
"I feel as if I am backed into a corner. I feel powerless. She said to me last week 'when can I come and live with you?' I say to her you are my baby, you are my daughter."
Mr Hemming said: "The court seems obsessed with avoiding the truth. There has been no willingness to get an independent assessment of Rachel's capabilities.
"All the independent assessments we have had so far have indicated that she does not have learning difficulties. In my view, this is a case where a child has been judicially stolen from their parent."
A spokesman for Nottingham City Council said they were not able to comment on individual cases.
He added: "Such cases are decided by the courts, taking into account all the information presented by all parties and putting the future welfare of the child as the priority."
Director of Specialist Services at the council's children's services department, Sue Gregory, previously said: "The matter was put before the Family Court which considered extensive assessments.
"The mother was represented in court, independent of the council. The court made a decision based on all the information it was presented with by all parties."
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by kellymatthews
Wednesday, December 21 2011, 10:03PM
“yh i also live in strelley they also dont think i could cope with my baby girl and she was 9 weeks old when she was took frm me”
by jenny1389
Saturday, August 27 2011, 2:17PM
“my son was taken by social services and a adoption order was made it has been 12months and no family has been found i have recently had my second child who is at home with me but they stillo say my circumstances hasnt changed but why whould they let me keep my daughter and not my son? i am currently in the process of trying to get the adoption order revoked its a true insight into the way social workers work we will allow you to keep your daughter but not your son it disgusts me how people who leave there children unattened for long hours and who are unkept there parents are allowed top keep there children and i had mine taken for no fault of my own.”
by gemma, edinburgh
Tuesday, August 17 2010, 8:45PM
“i to have had the same problem my daughter was taken from me by social services because apparently i could cope with a child there was no evidence to prove this my daughter was clean and well fed and meeting her milestones and now she is up for adoption and i have no say in the matter according to a solicitor i should accept the inevitable and that once an adoption order has been put in place there is nothing i can do and it all seems really unfair that the social services had no evidence that i wasnt a fit mother”
by gemma raine, edinburgh
Tuesday, August 17 2010, 8:42PM
“me and my partner have also been through this with social services our daughter is waiting to be adopted and there is nothing we can do about it and the social services used the excuse we dont think either of you are capable of looking after a child i think its highly wrong when innocent people are being punished we would very much love our daughter to be at home with us but as far as the social services are concerned we have no rights at all even though we are her birth parents”
by Suzanne, Norwich
Friday, June 05 2009, 2:38AM
“The trouble with you fw is that you are looking at everything through rose tinted spectacles that you are not seeing the bigger picture. Anyone who has been through care proceedings will tell you how many mistakes and blunders are made behind the scenes by social workers on a daily basis. I know this because i have witnessed this with my own eyes and also the amount of lies and discrepencies that are made by social workers on a daily basis too. Quite frankly fw you have to see it to believe it”
by FW, Nottingham
Thursday, June 04 2009, 8:27PM
“As I said, any system based on probability will always get it wrong sometimes, so children will be incorrectly taken from their parents. The alternative is a system based on certainty, which relies on leaving children in harms way to see whether they are seriously abused or not. Neither approach is good, but I know which I find less appalling. When it comes to protecting children, the state should not take chances.”
by Suzanne, Norwich
Thursday, June 04 2009, 1:48PM
“Excuse me fw their are many innocent families that have not harmed or hurt their chidren in anyway. Quite often in these cases their is an innocent reason why that child is like they are it could be they have a genetic condition such as what happened in our case what is the real cause not what anything the parents have done”
by FW, Nottingham
Thursday, June 04 2009, 1:25PM
“Exactly so. They work on probabilities, which, pretty much by definition, means that sometimes they get it wrong.
The alternative is to wait for certainties, which in this case means waiting until it can be proved beyond reasonable doubt that serious abuse has occurred. Personally, I don't think that the price for such certainty, putting innocent children through sickening abuse just to prove a legal point, is worth paying.”
by Suzanne, Norwich
Thursday, June 04 2009, 12:54PM
“Another important point for fw to take note of is that while professionals and social workers are wasting taxpayers money on taking children away from innocent families based on assumptions and probabilities their are still many children like baby p that are being ignored by professionals and social workers”
by Suzanne, Norwich
Thursday, June 04 2009, 11:30AM
“Folowing on from the last comment and my one before that, this is particularly for fw attention a lot of family court cases including the one my family were involved are based on assumptions and probabilities of what might happen in the future. In other words no real evidence to which make their claims.”